File types Etsy accepts — and the ones it doesn't

Etsy publishes the list of formats you can upload to a digital listing. It's worth reading closely, because what isn't on it matters more than what is.

What's missing, and who it affects

No `.svg`. No `.dxf`, no `.ai`, no `.eps`, no `.psd`. Which means the entire cut-file market — Cricut, Silhouette, vinyl, sublimation — and most of the design-template market cannot upload the file their customer actually wants. `.stl` is there, so 3D-print sellers are fine; `.mov` and `.mp3` are there, so short video and audio are fine within 20MB.

So SVG sellers do the only thing available: put the files in a ZIP, which is on the list. That works, Etsy expects it, and it's why so many Etsy digital purchases arrive as a ZIP rather than a file.

And that's where the messages come from

A ZIP is fine on a computer. The problem is that a good share of buyers aren't on one. Etsy's own help centre is explicit that "You can't download a digital purchase through the Etsy app at this time" — digital files need a browser, on a phone or a desktop. So a buyer on their phone, in the app, trying to open a ZIP, hits two obstacles at once, neither of which is anything to do with your file.

• They can't download it in the app at all. The fix is to open etsy.com in Safari or Chrome, sign in, and use Download Files under Purchases.
• Then they have to unzip it. On a phone that means opening it in the Files app and tapping to extract. On a computer it's a double-click.
• Then they need the software for what's inside. An `.svg` needs Design Space, Silhouette Studio or similar; a `.dxf` needs a cutting program. Nothing about downloading it teaches them that.

The other route

You can skip the format list entirely by delivering a link to files held somewhere else — which is what sellers of large bundles, Canva templates and video mostly do. Etsy sets its own rules on off-platform delivery and they change, so read the current Seller Policy rather than taking anyone's word for it, including this page's. How to deliver digital downloads on Etsy covers when it's worth doing and when Etsy's own delivery is simply better, and the five-file limit page covers the other ceiling you'll hit.

When a buyer does message you, what to send them is the paste-able reply that handles the app, the ZIP and the three other common causes in one go.